�Of weapons I am thunderbolt, amongst cows I am Surbhi,

of causes for procreation I am Kamdev god of love and in  serpent I am �Vasuki�

----- Krishna as Told to Arjun in Bhagwat Gita ( Chapter 10 � verse 28 )

 

Legend of Vasuki

 

Samudra Manthan

 

According to  �Bhagwat Puran�

 

Once Indra riding his elephant came across Rishi Durvasa who honoured him with a scented garland, Indra took the garland & places it on the elephant�s forehead, the elephant got irritated by the scent and throw off the garland, trampling on it, on seeing this the Rishi became angry & gave Indra curse that he and the Devtas would loose all  their supernatural powers.

On this the Devtas feared that the Asuras would overtake the 3 worlds, as they too were equipped with supernatural powers so they prayed to Brahma who suggested a solution; Churn the ocean of milk in order to attain the �Nectar of immortality�. However the devtas alone couldn�t perform this feat, so they entered into a treaty with the Asuras to participate in it.

The ocean was to be churned with mountain Sumeru  & Vasuki would be used as rope around it to churn. The devtas would hold his tail & the Asuras his head to churn the ocean of milk. Vishnu in his third incarnation became Turtle and stood below the mountain to support it & prevent it from sinking into the ocean, this process continued for 1000 years.

As the churning progressed a deadly poison �Halahal� emerged, it was so deadly that its one drop was enough to destroy all human animals & plant life from earth, seeing this everyone prayed to Shiva who then Drank the poison for the social cause, on this Parvati alarmed & stopped that poison it in his throat with her hands, which caused the throat to turn blue & so �Neelkanth� name came with the Mahadev suffix. After this many valuable treasures emerged from the sea, this include:

1)     Sura, goddess of wine.

2)     Apsaras, divine nymphs.

3)     Uchnashrava, divine horse.

4)     Kalpvrikhsha, wish growth tree.

5)     Kamdhenu the first cow.

6)     Airawat, divine elephant.

7)     Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune

8)     Finally Dhanvantri :

 

Dhanvantri was the heavenly priest who emerged with pot of nectar, seeing it both devtas and asuras became anxious, the devtas feared that if the Asuras drank the Amrit, t would be their end, so they forcibly seized the pot and run away with it, hiding it in different places, Swarglok, Mrityulok, Pataallok, the devtas were on Mrityulok for 12 days, as 12 days of god are equal to 12 years of mrityulok in those 12 days they rested in 4 places in Mrityulok, Prayag (Allahbad), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik, at each of the hiding places, a drop of nectar spilled from the pot and fell on earth. Hence every 12 years, from that day Kumbh Mela is celebrated in these 4 places where the amrit had fallen. Thousands flock to this Fair in search of Amrit, it is said that after the �Manthan� Vasuki left for the Himalayas �In Search of Shiva� and choose the valley of gods as his abode.

A few hundred meters from the cottage is the temple of the �Serpent God� Vasuki

 

HIMALAYAN HAMLET VASUKI MANALI

Himalayan Hamlet Vasuki - Manali